Ascension of the Hollow Star - Chapter 22: The Silence Between Bells

The course of commitments never did run smooth.

We have all heard the legends of great wizards, but do we know how those stories begin? Ardan Egobar, a young man living in a remote corner of the New Monarchy Empire, does not. He doesn't realize that this story is about him. Not yet...In a world where steam locomotives chug along iron rails, where massive airships hover in the skies, where in the cities you might encounter orcs in suits involved in organized crimes, dwarves with cigars controlling major banks, or elves strutting down fashionable boulevards, where humans have built vast nations on the brink of a world war, almost anything seems possible.Maybe, in such a world, even an ordinary young man, the last of the mountain hunters, might one day become the greatest wizard in history.

The world is in ruins. Extreme sub-zero temperatures suffocate the surface, making even simple survival an ordeal. Frozen derelicts of bygone eras span across massive ice wastes. And the survivors closely guard any technology rediscovered within.The only escape from the deadly climate is beneath the surface. But it’s another disaster underground. Monstrous machines lurk in the depths. Unhinged demigods war against them, dying over and over, treating it all like a game. The land itself shifts over time, more contraption than rock. And an ominous prophecy states that the key to everything waits on four heroes - but nobody knows who or where they are.When an expedition into the far uncharted north goes terribly wrong, Keith Winterscar and his father get trapped together in a desperate fight for survival. Stumbling upon an ancient war of titanic scale; the two will need to set their differences aside while they struggle against Gods, legends, and the grand secrets of the realm that lies below.

For centuries, the Thanes have ruled the shadows — a bloodline of supernatural assassins whose name inspires both fear and awe. Wealth, power, and secrecy have kept them untouchable… until a ghost from their darkest past returns and the hunters become the hunted.Emily has spent her life in a world starved of warmth, never knowing why the supernatural seems to stalk her steps. When fate throws her into the path of Morgan Thane, her own dangerous, long-suppressed powers awaken. Now hunted by forces she doesn’t understand, Emily must navigate a deadly alliance with a born killer— and survive a treacherous game where the truth could destroy them both.For event announcements and interaction with other people who love the book, check out.Discord: https://discord.gg/5DMjy5xr.Enjoy, feedback, comments, and constructive criticism are welcome.